The Internet has evolved from a human-centered connection network in which human beings generate and consume information into the Internet of things (IoT) network in which distributed components such as things exchange information with each other to process the information. The Internet of everything (IoE) technology has emerged, in which a big data processing technology and the like is combined with the IoT technology through the connection with a cloud server and the like. In order to implement the IoT, technical components such as a sensing technology, wired/wireless communication, network infrastructure, a service interface technology, and a security technology are required, and in recent years, technologies such as a sensor network for connection between things, machine to machine (M2M), and machine type communication (MTC) have been developed.
In the IoT environment, an intelligent Internet technology (IT) service may be provided to create a new value for a person's life by collecting and analyzing data generated in the connected things. The IoT may be applied to fields such as a smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, smart grid, health care, smart home appliances, and advanced medical service through the convergence and integration between the ITs of the related art and various industries.
There has been proposed a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon utilizing BLE as a communication technology replacing near field communication (NFC) that is short-range wireless communication. The BLE beacon was commercialized in various fields including provision of location information, marketing, purchasing, automatic check-in, or the like.
The NFC has an effective communication distance of about 4 cm to 20 cm, whereas the BLE beacon has an expanded effective communication distance of about 5 cm to 50 m. The NFC has a requirement that a separate chip is installed in each mobile communication terminal. However, short-range wireless communication using the beacon is possible only with a BLE recognition function in the BLE beacon. Therefore, the BLE beacon may provide a more economical wireless communication service even in a large room, compared with the NFC.
The BLE beacon has low power consumption to provide a wireless communication service only using a penny-sized battery for more than one year. Although the number of slave devices is limited to seven in the Bluetooth technology of the related art, it is possible to synchronize with the unlimited number of slave devices starting in a newer version of the BLE 4.0.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.